Response to Aesthetic approach to video

Reading Douglass and Harden’s chapter really put film techniques to the forefront of my mind. While watching Brokeback Mountain with a friend of mine this week, I was constantly thinking about the article and what the different types of shots in the movie could convey. For instance, the director Ang Lee used many short focal length shots to exaggerate the huge and wild beauty of the mountain scenery in Brokeback Mountain as well as the smallness of the characters themselves. It made it seem as if they were swallowed by the world around them, which is highly symbolic given the circumstances. Because the two characters are hiding who they actually are for fear of becoming societal outcasts, their smallness and vulnerability in these shots subconsciously brought us to the emotional place that we needed to be for the movie to be fully effective.

One of these shots in particular was taken from above. As Douglass and Harden said of high-angle, short focal-length shots, it “makes them appear as if we are observing them from near the ceiling” (p 168). In this particular case, however, the two cowboys are actually being observed from above by their employer. This is especially significant because their boss realizes in this scene that they are in love with one another and that this is causing them to be slightly less effective at their jobs. The shot perfectly conveys the cold emotion of the situation, as well as emphasizing the feeling that they are being spied on even before we know that they actually are. It helps us to put their relationship back in the perspective of the society which they are part of – it reminds us that in their world, their relationship cannot be accepted.

Here is the scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuyH1j2jMRg

Watch from 1:28 to the end.

            I found the Douglass and Harden chapter to be hugely helpful in viewing movies and choosing which shots and techniques to use to convey certain things. I chose Brokeback Mountain because it is one of my favorite movies of all time, primarily because of the cinematography.